Probably the best parlor video ever made. Totally agree with robotic views, to be fair they do save physical labour but certainly dont save time and as for running costs, its better not to go there. Personally i still prefer my individual throughs in a sequential bailing.
That is a really nice parlor. Ours does not have nearly as good of cow flow although we spent a lot less. You made a great point about people comparing robot milkers to old worn-out parlors. I agree, I'd rather spend on an efficient parlor that is not running 24/7.
Thank you! We have an old harvest store bin like yours and it was nice to see how it was meant to be used in your videos! We only ever used it to store barley but it has the forage shoot etc.
Comment for the algorithm to help the channel 👍 I'm a Beef Farmer. I don't know a whole lot about Dairying but that looks like The Fendt of Milking Parlours. Excellent video and excellent content though 👍👍👍.
Excellent video. A much better parlour than a certain TP’s. When I did milk 20 years ago it was a similar wide pit, not as wide but it was an enjoyable place to be. TP’s is a good pit but you’ve taken it up a level or two to an excellent pit IMO.
Great video. I do agree how people go from a bad parlor to robotics and see an improvement because that is what I did. We milk 530 cows in 11 a4 robots. We really do like the robots but some days it would be nice to do a milking in a parlor and know that the shift is done. Thanks for your time and info.
Great video! Very informative! We are in Tasmania, Australia and are about to build our first parlour a 20 double up herringbone. Lots of inspiration with your video, I hope to start a channel soon to record how it goes.
I am one of the five. Delighted with this video. Maybe I am not as daft as I thought I was, we are currently milking 150 through a eight swing over and it is not the best way to spend your life. We have considered robots but for exactly the same reason as you have rejected them and we are still not deciding on the exact parlour to go with but have decided to go with sequential baling and I was very interested to hear what you had to say about the individual troughs versus what you have. Like the idea of the tunnel and moving the stuff out of the pit also . For me it was a hugely informative video thanks for posting it.
You have got very lucky you seen this! 😅A mistake in your design can be very expensive! Another point i didnt mention, make sure you earth EVERYTHING really well. I have steel mesh in the floor joined to the frame all grounded to a deep stake.
@@FarmTheoryNI I am an electrician by trade so I have a pretty good understanding of the importance of a good earth , put in 3 phase this year in preparation for the build, GEA seem to be popular with RU-vidrs at the moment, did you have any particular reason for going with them? I am loath to go with a machine that I am not confident about the back up service although I suppose if you include enough redundancy’s you would probably negate that issue. I am not convinced that a double up is the best option however I am fairly well convinced that as we have the potential to go to 200 cows we need at least 24 units and of course acr’s and meters etc however as we have a split herd 40 percent autumn, 60 spring I think that feed to yield may be beneficial however I am definitely going to look very carefully into the stats in this regard, at the moment we run them as 2 different herds ( just to slow things up even further) . I would like to have the new unit as close to possible a one operator system as labour is just not affordable where we are.
Totally agree with your collecting yard philosophy. For a short period we push one group in through the front and it's such a time waster having to turn them around. Also the slight incline is great 👍
Great video on the subject of water heating you should get heat capture from your bulktank compressor when it’s cooling its warming water to feed the boiler up to 40c. It’s making a great difference and I’m saving loads
I have really enjoyed listening to this video and it has been explained so well. I used to relief milk many many yrs ago and the parlour was a lot smaller 12/12 but the head room didn’t help a 6ft tall milker, so your right a working space that is easy and light to work in is a big advantage great video. Oh and I agree parlour over robot
A good explanation of your reasoning behind your decisions. I have a double up parlour with a wide pit 25 years old GEA and most of the equipment is the same as yours .I put ADF in last year and like the upgrade with 2 people milking its a great work environment.I was surprised that robots would have been cheaper but in the long run much more expensive running costs .As long as you can attract and keep staff parlours would still be the most cost efficient way to harvest milk I think 👍
Congratulations on producing such engaging and enjoyable content.....if i was upgrading a milking parlour...i would like to follow your intelligent and well thought out example. well done!!
I am one of those people who never needs to know anything about dairy farming but I watch similar videos all the time because I enjoy them. I have just subscribed to your channel because I like your style and your logical explanations. Excellent.
Great Video, my only (long term) experience milking milking cows was in a 28 aside herringbone milking 500 jersey cows, I have since had experience observing customers using robots, rotaries and herringbones, very few people use double up herringbones in NZ, robots change the whole dynamic (family) in terms of involvement with cows and the dairy farm, the technology and people issues are far more family friendly, the specific example i remember well was a similar sized herd to yours with the "share" milker stressed out and overworked because he was the "farmer" introducing 4 robots meant that the 3 generation (s) of the farming family became involved in the operation, the sharemilker was a lot less stressed because he didn't have to get cows in at 5 am, he simply came to the shed at 7am, did some cleaning and set up the gates for the paddocks for the day, at 9am his wife (ex teacher) would come down and do the computer stuff she was not involved with the Herringbone system before, but she loves the technology and animal focus! the children (pre and teens) love being involved and the farmer, (the share-mikers father-in-law) is happy to run the farm when the family is away! my son has extensive experience in big rotaries (
Smaller scale but we milk in a similar GEA parlour. Had it 10 years now, little more I guess. Good overall, lots of features to it we should have took advantage of and didn't. We'll be going robot next though.
Really interesting video. I'm in early stages of planning a new parlour. Some of things you've put in I had thought about and other bits never thought about doing. Totally agree on the robots view. Only thing you hadn't mentioned was why GEA? I've GEA now but not buying another one! Interesting what your thoughts were on picking the brand
Honestly its just the "look and feel"?! GEA just make quality parts which make a quality parlour. Its a small extra cost over the lifespan of the investment.
Interesting video, very good job and good luck with the milking parlour What about a robot for smaller herds ? My dad milks 70 cows in Kerry but is slower
Agree with everything you’ve pointed out. What was the reason for going to a double up parlour over a Rotory style, I’m more so curious on your thoughts!
My future potential/desire to expand is limited so I figured I would never be able to take advantage of a rotary. You have extra capex and maintenance cost to balance.
I think also something you didn't mention is with a conventional milking parlour if you have a grazing system you milk your cows in the morning turn them out in the field then get them all in for milking later in the day whereas robotic milking i don't really think a grazing system will work very well especially if your cows have to walk down a road or track to the other side of the farm .........cows cant open and shut gates very well on there own also i've heard some cows dry themselves off early like 6 months after they've calved or something cos not every cow likes being milked whereas a conventional parlour every cow that needs to be milked gets milked
Great video, I would agree with your comparative advantages over robots but how would you rate your double up to a rotary milking parlor? 44 or 50 unit, less walking one man milking and cow flow and I would imagine cost is simular especially when looking at a shed width to facilitate rapid exit
I felt like I was just a little bit to small for a rotary, the cost was a fair bit more for a 50pt and I'm not convinced there is a benefit to going rotary on anything smaller.
Would that gate at the back of the collecting not be better hinged to swing the other way, flush back against the rails to make it easier to close them in? Nice parlour and design. Also I would still go with the sort system. Have the cows going down the race every milking and it won't affect flow when you sort.
Fabulous share, very interesting. I agree that robots may seem a time saver, but you are tied to your phone or laptop.....who wants to go and chase up unmilked cows at 11pm!. Good luck with the silage, it has been raining cats and dogs here in Scotland for 24 hours solid!.
Andrew, what distance have you got from the kerb of the pit to the block wall that the feeders are mounted on? Are you you pleased with the space you have given the cows to stand?
100 per cent agree about robots, been involved with commissioning robots and most farms have had a very small parlour so robots made a difference. But a good parlour would have made a bigger difference, when you have milked your cows you have the rest of the day.
I was waiting for this,very informative ,are your cows at 2,2 centres,what width is the pit?would a heat recovery unit save your energy use at heating water
I cant remember the centres, its 2.8m. I priced all the above and it doesnt add up. My water is leaving my plate cooler at ~17 degrees, thats only 5 degrees above the water in temp.
Brilliant video! A fantastic investment! We put in a new parlour in 2013 and it made a serious difference to our workload and the cows. Did you ever consider heat recovery to help heat your water? Tankcare fitted heat recovery for us back in 2020 and it noticeably reduced our electric bill! Ours has definitely paid for itself already. I know people have fitted oil boilers, they can give a ton of trouble and I’m told some suppliers have stopped fitting them?
@@FarmTheoryNI I didn’t see one working here either, I was proved wrong. We are similar to you where our tank is only about 50% full, we have plate cooler with well water & ice water from an ice builder. Our tank is doing very little work and I didn’t think the compressors would be running long enough for heat recovery, but every morning I have water to 55 degrees, it pumps to my parlour boiler, taking majority of work off it, re fills my tank boiler which isn’t as efficient as it fills straight after a wash so it goes in hot and has to sit for 48 hours until it’s used, also provides the hot water for my calf feeder and there’s still water left over. On a day where milks collected it may drop to 40 degrees if calves are busy on the feeder. It’s definitely one of the most cost effective things I’ve bought with no service required and works purely off waste heat from compressors.
Excellent video. You should take real data on your electric heating costs, I could believe that it's costing 2 - 3 times more per kW of heat energy. A new boiler and tank is going to be very economical to buy in comparison to that production cost. Someone in a different industry will probably buy that electric system from you in a heart beat.
I have recorded all energy use in detail, the capital cost doesn't make sense to change. Current paying 15ppkwh for night tariff and oil would be around 10ppkwh.
Good morning, what brand is your milking parlor and why not have a swing over installed? (you may have talked about it in the video but I'm not an English speaker....). Sincerely.
Very interesting points on your new parlour design. It is impressive and looks like it could do another fifty years. I can see you sweat the details. Impressed with your Python as well. 2 questions 1. Can you milk singlehanded or does it need a pair? 2. Not your design choice of course but would there have been much of a price difference with a swingover line?
Thank you! You can milk on your own, it adds 15mins or so but it's not a nice experience. It needs two. Swingover was ~10% of the total project cost less.
Glad you doubled up, clear vision but more important: less wear on the milkers hips pulling clusters from one side to the other. It is the main reason for retirement in NZ ! !
Whats your thoughts on a rotary dairy with a robotic arm for cupping up, post spray etc? Essentially the same as normal milking but instead of milking staff you have a robot so problems will only occur when you or another staff member are there pushing cows in or feeding calves etc. I'm looking at this maybe 5 years down the road as my dad can't physically milk in our doubled up parlour due to a back problem but he loves being around the cows and rarely goes on holidays 🤣
Fair enough reasoning but would strongly disagree about robots. Had them 3.5 years coming from an auto tandem loaded with everything which was a joy to work in and couldn't go back. Got rid of so much labour, next to no mastitis/antibiotics and the 24/7 on call isn't anywhere near as bad as made out to be; alarms are rare. You're tied to animals anyway, and no more so than milking 2x/365. If you train them to need fetching then that's what you'll do. But agreed, they don't suit everyone
Even with the price of oil at its highest, would it still make sense if you had the hind sight at the beginning to go oil instead of electric for the boiler?
Best dairy video produced, honest fair ,must add !!all the promotional videos about new systems and farmers (wait for it) you see all these dairymen with 100k thousands of investments and the f Dirt and filth of them clothes covered in shit ,you are immaculate, a credit to your mom 😂😂😂
Hi, how many milking points are there? We are looking into putting a rapid exit in, We will be milking 150-180 high yielding cows through it. Just trying to decide how many milking points in a double up would be best for one man milking?
Looking like a great place to milk . What way do the economics of it work out ? That aspect needs a bit more explaining. What’s cost per litre of maintenance and original capital costs? When you say 1 hour in morning and 50 minute in afternoon is that including start up and wash down? A lot of units to wash and concrete. Pigs slats look like great idea.
Savings in meal were greater than the repayments, small increase in milk yield. Cost for labour to have staff for every milking was more than expected but it affords me a lot more time and flexibility. The time includes washing and starting.
So interesting, loved every min of it, your a cool dude, and my goodness at 6feet 5 inches that's a brave height, you might need a hard hat working in the parlour😂😂
Two things. Given that your is a double up does it not lend itself to been two person job milking in order to get the most efficiency out of it?? One person milking will always have a lot of clusters not milking? Also on your entrance to collecting yard. Cows turn three times to face back of palour. Not great for cow flow?? Possible to have them entering straight in from back corner of shed and turn in once
Some things are more maintainable when they're analog ... complexity doesn't always == efficiency ... as an computer engineer i'm always wrestling with these eternal questions
My neighbour of 57yrs and lifelong good cow-man no tech wizard put in a robot system 4 years ago and is forever tortured now with animal health problems, Late detection of sick cows ( milk fever, chills etc) resulting in exceptionally high cull & mortality rates. 'The biggest mistake of my life' 😠 😡 FT index 💯
@@DM-eq1fq I did, conclusion was nothing gives a return on investment quick enough to make sense re: energy. Savings where all in small wins which are free.
Please tell me the name of the company that done your polycarbonate sheeting/dung guard! I can’t stand all the dung that comes down in the pit of our parlour 🤔
When I build this four gea robots where under 300k and there is much less infrastructure. Tbf it is probably a lie and 4 robots would have been more but we would have only required 3.
I have actually looked at the figures for a 40 point rotary, I worked in one years ago and I was impressed with the throughput but you realistically can’t justify it on borrowed money for any less than c. 300 cows provided they are at over 500kg’s of solids and you would need more if you aren’t at that point. The cost of the infrastructure to accommodate a 40 point rotary is considerably more than a 24 point swing over with sequential baling, obviously Andrew has gone for a much more expensive option however and I don’t know how he would have faired with a comparison.
@@Andy-ix2ox interesting. I guess the ability to spec up or down a parlour applies to rotaries also so the comparison you make is probably still valid.
